Netflix Continues Southern Europe Tour with Glamorous Italian Launch

Viva la streaming.

Netflix, the world’s largest network of Internet TV is now available in Italy. The streaming platform premiered Thursday in Italy as Netflix continued its tour across Southern Europe, launching Tuesday in Spain and Wednesday in Portugal, with a slew of original series stars in tow.

Stars including Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black), Will Arnett (Bojack Horseman), Daredevil producer Steven DeKnight, Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Daryl Hannah (Sense8) and Pierfrancesco Favino (Marco Polo) all made the trek to Milan to help tout the new streaming service in Italy.

The city's high-society set came out in droves to the glamorous Palazzo del Ghiaccio to celebrate Netflix's debut in the country.

Subscribers across Southern Europe can sign up for $9 (€7.99) a month for one SD connection, two simultaneous HD connections for $11.35 (€9.99) a month and four simultaneous HD connections for $13.60 (€11.99) a month.

Netflix will be available across smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, game consoles and computers. The company has also struck a deal with Telecom Italia to make Netflix available on TIMvision. Vodafone is also offering several exclusive promotions that include Netflix subscriptions.

"We are excited to be bringing Netflix to Italy and to present to the Italian viewers the extensive catalog of original Netflix titles and the experience of Internet TV," said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings at a press conference in Milan on Thursday.

“This new way of distributing content is really exciting,” said Ritter, of bringing her new show Jessica Jones to Italy. Jessica Jones launches globally Nov. 20.

While some series, such as House of Cards, currently belong to Sky Atlantic in Italy, Netflix focused Thursday on the original series it will be launching in Italy, including Daredevil, Marco Polo, Grace and Frankie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Narcos. Content will also be available dubbed in Italian, in accordance with local viewing preferences.

Netflix’s first big foray into original Italian content, Suburra, will premiere in 2017. The 10-episode mafia drama explores the ever-popular local topics of politics, corruption, the Vatican, drugs and prostitution on the Roman coast.

The film Suburra has proven to be a local hit since its theatrical release in Italy on Oct. 14. It’s currently available for streaming on Netflix in the U.S. and in Latin America and will be available on Italian Netflix in May of next year.

Many Italians have already voiced fear at slow bandwidth speeds to access premium content, especially outside of urban centers. The company responded that the concerns in Italy are overblown, and in any case a free month is on offer for everyone to try before they buy.